Brian Setzer to rock this Christmas town in San Bernardino

As a teenager, Brian Setzer strummed a guitar in his family's Long Island garage and couldn't imagine making a record.

Especially a hit record.

"The first time I heard my single, `Runaway Boys,' it was already a hit in England," Setzer said. "I remember hearing it on the highway and pulling over so I wouldn't lose the guitar solo under the overpass."

Setzer added that you just can't believe it when that happens - when it hits you that you've become successful - when you hear your own music on the radio.

Since then, Setzer's hot guitar solos have transcended generations, and his orchestra's Christmas shows have become a tradition for scores of fans, eager for tunes draped in the rockabilly arrangements that made Setzer famous.

On Friday, the three-time Grammy Award-winning guitarist, singer and songwriter and the Brian Setzer Orchestra plays San Bernardino's historic California Theatre of the Performing Arts.

Founder of the rockabilly group the Stray Cats, Setzer formed the 17-piece swing and jump blues orchestra in the mid-1990s, complete with brass, woodwind, rhythm section and backup singers. It's a long way from the three-piece Stray Cats, but the Stray Cats influence is clear in the shows.

Setzer, who's been called the King of Swing and the Rockabilly Rebel, admits that when he's at home he picks his guitar, while he has a baseball game on in the background.

The process relaxes him, and suddenly, he comes up with something new, he says, it just happens.

He then writes it out musically with pen and paper.

He records new music he's written on an old 1970 Sears tape recorder and has to go online to buy the cassettes.

His last four or five albums he still has on the cassettes before he recorded them, he says.

"I need some sort of relaxation. That's how I do it," said Setzer in a phone interview somewhere between New Jersey and Kentucky.

His 2012 Christmas Rocks tour has criss-crossed the country, stopping at 26 cities since Nov. 17.

Following Friday's concert in San Bernardino, the band plays the Gibson Theatre at Universal CityWalk for its tour grand finale on Saturday.

Joseph Henson, Theatrical Arts International producer, said he has seen Brian Setzer almost every year at Christmastime.

"His Christmas spectacular is the best way to get you into the Christmas spirit," Henson said.

"He plays the best music from Christmas with a big band flair and also plays his Stray Cats hits and his retro songs. It's a must-see concert."

The orchestra's gigs have included the East Room of the White House and tree-lighting ceremonies at Rockefeller Center.

Setzer's huge "Rockabilly Riot" Tour, which ran from June 2011 to April 2012, featured sold-out performances in Europe, Japan, Australia and North America.

Setzer's Christmas tours, now in their ninth year, have become a traditional celebration, with performances usually sold-out.

"What got me going for the Christmas shows was when they called me to do something for `Jingle All the Way,' the Arnold Schwarzenegger movie."

He came up with his version of "Jingle Bells" and they loved it.

And then he wrote "So They Say It's Christmas, a song recorded by Lou Rawls.

"People wouldn't let me stop. I guess I'm the only rockin' guy who does Christmas songs."

This ninth-annual tour is unique in that Setzer is not plugging an album - the tour is truly a celebration of the season.

"He's amazing," Dinkel said. "One of the things that people love when they go to see him is how he makes rockabilly modern, yet classic and old-school," said Dinkel, who has seen him in concert several times.

Setzer, 53, who has three children, said the most important Christmas gift is time - being with your family.

His children don't want much, he says.

"My daughters live in Nashville and they don't want `stuff.' They just want to hang out. It's important, so I just make sure it happens."

His family - and staying busy - keep him going, he said.

"I keep myself going with music and hobbies. Lately it's been old junk - like on `American Pickers,"' said Setzer, admitting that he "loves" old junk.

His passions? Guitars and hot rods.

"You can't really say that I collect a lot, but I like to go through it. My latest passion is old motorcycles. I've got three of them. They don't run right so you tweak them and fix them and it makes you feel so good when you're drivin' down the road."

"It's kind of my thing."

Setzer and his wife, Julie, a former vocalist with the band, live in Minneapolis.